It would cost £42 million to bring Western Isles roads up to a minimum basic standard.
The final figure may be even higher depending on the outcome of recent checks by a Scottish Government squad.
The huge cost does not include the added expense in repairing a trail of potholes caused by the harsh winter.
Many island roads are not built on hard foundations but “float” above deep peat and are expensive to maintain.
This year the council has allocated an extra £5 million of its scarce cash to invest into road upgrades. The strategy is to improve crumbling roads to save money on their constant patching and is hoped to save on annual repair cots
In April, contractors worked round-
A number of proposed road improvements are fighting for the remaining £3 million available over the next two years and councillors will argue priority for their ward.
It includes the replacement of Laxdale Bridge on the outskirts of Stornoway, widening
a single-
Transport committee chairman Donald Manford said many roads had fallen into disrepair the council had voted to divert vital maintenance cash to other budgets. It led to higher cots as due to the deteriorating state of the carriageways.
Mr Manford said the audit assesses the cost of repairing roads to a minimum useable standard.
He said: “The council is making the choice. The backlog is due to insufficient investment on an annual basis.
“Another factor is a large number of Western Isles roads were not built on proper foundations and now require a lot of repair and maintenance. Historically, they were built over old cart tracks.”
One example is the replacement and widening of the single track road at Carinish. Originally the road past the village hall to the township was earmarked for improvement but the very deep peat ruled this out. It was feared that digging down five metres to the hard could cause the existing road to collapse.
£42 million maintenance backlog for island roads 26/8/11
Roadworks on North Uist